USITT Seeks Weather-Themed Designs to Display in Prague in June 2015; Deadline July 14

Designers working on USITT's U.S. National exhibit to the 2015 Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space describe the structure they're creating as "a Vortex designed to hold the hurricane of human emotions."

An all-star team of curators -- Tony Walton (scenery), Carrie Robbins (costumes), Kevin Rigdon (lighting), and Veronica Vorel (sound) -- is seeking weather-themed designs reflecting the best of American performance design since 2011 to display in the exhibit in Prague, Czech Republic, in June 2015.

Submissions are due by July 14, and must include five images, one video link, and a written description of the project. Submit designs here.

The U.S. national design team is led by Markèta Fantová, with Klara Zieglarova designing the exhibit space. A team of students overseen by Indiana University Technical Director Paul Brunner will build it at IU in the coming months. It will be shipped to Prague next spring. National exhibits from around the world will be displayed at four historic palaces on Prague's Old Town Square during the 10-day PQ 2015, organizers said.

The PQ is the world's largest performance design event, held every four years since 1967, celebrating contemporary work in scenography and performance design in many disciplines and genres, including costume, scenic, lighting, sound, and architecture for dance, opera, multi-media, urbanism, and more.

See a video of PQ 2011 work here.

The overall theme of PQ 2015 is Shared Space: Music, Weather, Politics. PQ organizers asked participating nations to choose one of the three, and the USITT team chose weather.

"We are seeking works that create a shared experience where everything converges into a tempest of shared imagination, and where ideas ride the currents from coast to coast," they wrote. "We are interested in works that evoke a multiplicity of deep feelings like the ever-changing weather."

USITT, the United States Institute for Theatre Technology, has sent a U.S. national exhibit to the PQ since 1971. USITT design teams also are working on U.S. Architectural and Student exhibits to PQ 2015. Those teams will be seeking design submissions this USITT is the national non-profit association for designers and technicians in the performing arts and live entertainment. USITT membership offers networking, training, information, conferences, promotion, and support for the theatre tech industry. For more information, visit www.usitt.org.